Gimme Shelter
by ladieDAWN
Summary: Moving from New York to the Midwest was bound to be the most traumatic experience of Sophia Bishop's life and to make matter's worse, suburban Chicago is more horrible than she ever imagined. Trapped at Shermer High for the last three months of her Senior Year, she soon finds herself swept up in a full blown social revolution and entangled with the five students who started it all.
1. Chapter 1

According to the calendar, it was springtime in Chicago. Sophia Bishop had some serious doubts about that.

"It's freezing." Sophie glared at her Mother from across the table, her teeth chattering "This Windy City crap is really starting to pi-"

"Please Soph, can we save the curse words for the afternoon. I'm letting you use my car aren't I? Please just be reasonable."

She leaned back in her chair, still bundled in her Father's winter coat after running out to start her mother's Buick. It was almost seven; she'd have to leave in fifteen minutes if she wanted to make it to school on time. She doubted, in this arctic Midwestern chill, that the car would be warm enough to keep her from hypothermia on the ride there.

"I am being reasonable. I let you lug me here didn't I?"

Elise Bishop looked at her 17 year old daughter and smiled. She looked just like her Father, with his blue black hair and grey eyes. She was tall, like him and had grown out of her awkward, coltish stage to a pretty young woman. Elise would have preferred that she wasn't so attached to the dark eye makeup and all the jewelry. She had three piercings in her left ear and two in her right. Her fingers, toes, her neck and her wrists never seemed to be without some shimmering accessory. She wanted a stud in her nose, but her husband had put his foot down. His Mother would never forgive him for letting her only Granddaughter punch a hole in her face.

"Ah yes, you were very gracious. I'm glad you didn't go through with your threat to drown yourself in the Hudson."

Sophie rolled her eyes and took a sip of her juice. She had nearly finished her waffle and took a quick glance at the clock in the kitchen.

"I've gotta split mom. Have a great day and remember me in purgatory."

"You're so over dramatic. Get out of here. I'll see you at four."

"I don't' know. I've heard these Chicago teenagers are savages. I have a feeling I'll be eaten alive today."

"I think you'll be fine. Savages or not, you're too bony and bitter to be very appetizing."

"Thanks!"

"That's what you get for being a smarty pants Sophia Leanne. Now go on before you're late."

Her mother called her over dramatic, but Sophie really was dreading her upcoming first day. She had attended elementary school, middle school and the first three and a half years of high school with the same kids and this was her first experience as 'the new kid'. She had navigated herself through quite a few situations in her life, but never something like that. And if there was one thing she knew for certain, it was that kids were evil. Especially High School kids.

Finishing out her senior year with a whole new student body was not a great scenario. As she pulled into the school's parking lot she decided that since she had to do this, she'd do it right. It couldn't be _that _much different, could it? It wasn't like being the new kid automatically spelled disaster, right?

_Yeah, keep telling yourself that, I'm sure it'll be grand._

She could see a multitude of kids exiting their buses and swarming into the school. They were entering the side doors, but she decided she'd take the less congested entrance in the front. The Big Shermer High sign loomed ahead and she hurried into the building. The cutting wind reddened her cheeks and she cursed under her breath as the door slammed behind her.

It echoed in the little foyer that led to the administration office. She knew, from what the guidance counselor had told her Mother over the phone that she had to check in at the front desk. A short, blonde woman with big framed glasses was there, talking on the phone.

Sophie began to cut across, heading for the desk when a hand on her arm stopped her.

"Young Lady, you can't park in the Staff parking lot."

She turned to face the gruff voice. It was an older man, presumably a teacher. Dressed in a smart dark blue suit, he cut a handsome figure in the greys and beiges of the ugly school decor. Sophie smiled sweetly, looking out to where he was pointing at her mother's car.

"That's the staff parking lot? Goodness, I didn't know. I'm sorry, it's my first-"

"All students are required to park in the south lot, and you'll need a parking pass."

"Well, I would have a parking pass but seeing as I just moved to town a few days ago and I'm just starting at Shermer, maybe you'll cut me a break?"

She batted her eye lashes at him and brushed a bit of her hair off her shoulder. A little charm went a long way.

"You'll be exempt for today but I don't want to see that car on school grounds without a pass again. And the next time I see it in the Staff lot, I'll have it towed. No questions asked."

"Of course, of course Mr-"

"Mr. Vernon."

She remembered reading a staff roster at some point. This was the Vice Principle of the entire school. She smiled even wider and lightly laid a hand on his elbow. His eyes followed her hand and his eyebrows rose uncomfortably. Sophie stifled a laugh.

"I really do appreciate that. I never forget a kindness."

He broke the contact and continued his trek down the hall. Sophie chuckled to herself and headed over to the desk. She leaned towards the secretary and gave a wink.

"He's a tall drink of water, eh?"

The woman didn't appear amused. She flipped a page of a note book and stared up at Sophie.

"Can I help you young lady?"

"Yeah, I hope so. I'm Sophie Bishop, I start here today. I was told I could pick up me schedule here?"

She looked confused, but after a moment it seemed to register. She leaned down, pulled a filed from a manila envelope in the drawer below. A brittle smile graced her face.

"Miss Bishop, your first period is English. It's room 238, in C hall. A floor plan of the school, a cafeteria menu and your locker number and combination can be found in this folder. If you have any questions, feel free to come back to the office. Thank you."

And just like that she picked up the phone and began dialing. Soon she was talking again and Sophie was standing there, with her back pack slung over her shoulder and the folder tucked under her arm. She took a deep breath and turned, opening it and grabbing the floor plan.

C hall was three halls over. Her locker was in F hall. That was on the other side of the building. If she wanted to get to first period on time she'd have to discover her locker later. Making her way down the hall, she couldn't help but feel eyes on her.

People were staring. Suddenly she was all too aware of the eyes on her. Fighting back a prickle of fear she started flashing smiles, even waving at a few especially nosy students. A few smiled and waved back, but most gave her funny looks. A gaggle of primped and prissy Barbie clones were especially hostile.

"Nice pants." A leggy blonde commented "They're so loud I can't even hear myself think."

This was hissed at her as she walked past. Sophie paused and glanced down. She was especially proud of these pants. She'd gotten them from a trendy boutique in the village and the shop lady had said they'd come straight from fashion week. She'd spent a whole months allowance on the tight pants. They were a sharp tangerine color she'd set off with a floral shrug sweater. Her pride pricked at the insult.

Sophie turned slowly and faced the pretty girl. She smiled tightly and glanced down at her clothes.

"Thanks! That's exactly the look I was going for. And congrats on your outfit. You've captured K Mart chic quite effectively. I'm Sophie by the way, and I'd recommend less white in your wardrobe. It really washes you out."

The nameless blonde gawked for a moment and her friends were equally silent. The whole hall seemed hushed. Suddenly, the triumph Sophie had felt a few seconds ago seemed to fade. Had she made a mistake? After a moment the warning bell rang and everyone seemed to snap out of their trance and bustle off to class. The blonde had recovered from her shock. She slammed her locker and brushed past Sophie, making her stumble a bit. She snickered and whispered something to her friend. They all laughed again and had disappeared into the crowd before Sophie had even begun to head toward Room 238. She shook her head and hurried towards class, not willing to be late to her first class.

The room wasn't very full as she entered. Two or three students were already at their desks. A few more were trickling in, all of them watching Sophie intently. The whole staring thing was really getting old.

"Hi." She said to the gray haired man lounging behind the desk "I'm Sophie Bishop, it's my first day."

He looked up at her and nodded briskly, bobbing his head towards the desks.

"Third row, second seat Miss Bishop."

They certainly knew how to cut to the chase at Shermer High. As she sat down, she heard an exclamation from them back of the class.

"Alison Reynolds? The skitzo girl? Are you high?"

The kid sounded shocked. Sophie half way listened, obviously unfamiliar with the name.

"No way man. I heard it from Kenny Wilson, he's Clark's best friend. He was mad as hell. Says Andrew's acting like an idiot. He was yelling something about Breakfast or something weird like that. All I know is they were making out in the parking lot in front of go and everyone."

A girl's voice chimed in, Sophie caught a glimpse of her. Her eyes were wide and she talked as if she was discussing some high profile news story.

"That's not all. John Bender and Brian Johnson were talking outside of Bender's locker this morning, acting like the best of pals."

"No. That's even more unbelievable. The only reason Brian would be around Bender's locker is if he was being stuffed in it."

"No. I swear. The whole school's in chaos. Rumor has it they all had some sort of orgy in Saturday detention and they formed a blood pact. Everyone's going nuts."

"I heard Veronica Sharpe was going around calling Claire Standish all sorts of horrible names. Said she screwed Bender in the school bathroom or something like that. It's crazy."

It didn't cound _crazy, _it sounded _stupid._ Sophie wasn't familiar with any of the names they were bringing up, so she was even less interested. She picked up the syllabus off her desk the teacher had provided and started scanning through it. A post it on the bottom corner caught her attention. The teacher's slanted handwriting was nearly impossible to read on the copied paper but it looked like standard Senior English stuff. Classic American and British writers, essays, research papers, the usual. She wasn't worried about English; that would be easy. Science and Math would be her Achilles heel. But considering she only had three months left she imagined she'd be able to get her diploma, even if she didn't get straight A's. Her GPA was strong enough to take a few minor hits.

"Alright class, settle down. Let's get started."

Just like that the rumor mill stopped, but when the bell rang to end first period it started up again in full swing. As she left the room she could hear the same kids murmuring beside her.

"I can't wait till lunch. Rumor has it Veronica's going to let Alison have it. You know she's had her eyes on Andrew for months."

Walking quickly, she tried to escape the chatter, but it seemed it greeted her everywhere. In third period Biology someone whispered that the same Brian had impregnated Claire Standish and that Alison was black mailing Andrew so he'd date her and boost her popularity.

There were so many conflicting stories, but the names remained the same. By lunch she felt like she knew the five students personally. Brian Johnson was the quintessential geek teen, and at the bottom of the social ladder. Andrew Clark was an all-star state wrestler and the most eligible man candy around. John Bender, the sociopathic juvenile delinquent was the Genghis Khan of the school, wreaking havoc wherever he went. Claire Standish was the rich and beautiful belle of Shermer High, who tended to run with the same crowd as Andrew. Alison Reynolds had been called a witch, a freak, a psycho, a mute and all sorts of other horrible names. They seemed like a pretty odd group, but apparently Saturday detentions were bonding experiences at Shermer (or orgy opportunities if you believed some of the more popular stories floating around).

"So you're the new girl, huh? Not too shabby."

A voice startled her and she looked up from her tray to find a short statured, short haired brunette with cute fifties style glasses on her face standing beside her. They had slender black, cat-eye frames and set her soft round face off rather well. She had a little stud in her nose that endeared her to Sophie automatically. Plus she was the first person who had approached her with any sort of civilized greeting. That scored her major brownie points.

"Yeah, or better known as the travelling freak show. I'm starting to think you guys had never had a new student enroll her before."

The girl laughed and sat down across from Sophie, setting her own tray down.

"I don't think we've had one for a few years. You're a novelty. Count yourself lucky. You'd have caught way more heat if you'd showed up on any other day."

"Oh God, not you too."

"Huh?"

"If its about those Breakfast kids or whatever, I've heard my fill today."

The strange girl laughed again, a bright and musical laugh that Sophie liked. She took a bite of her sandwich and leaned back in the uncomfortable plastic chair.

"I'm Mariah by the way. It's nice to meet you."

"I'm Sophie. Nice to meet you too."

Mariah reached into her bag and pulled out a small airplane bottle of vodka. Emptying it into her orange juice bottle she shook it up a little, watching the teachers milling about the cafeteria with a cautious eye. Sophie scoffed.

"Isn't it a little early for the hard stuff?"

The girl, with her cute pixie cut and nose stud grinned and took a swig. She made a face and took in a sharp intake of breath.

"Don't tell me you're a goody two shoes Sophie. I was really starting to like you."

Sophie shrugged, taking another bite and wiping her face.

"So, because I turned down booze at the lunch table you automatically assume I'm a wet blanket? Harsh."

"You do drink then?"

"Not at school."

Mariah nodded, accepting the answer. Sophie was no stranger to partying, but she would never have dreamed about talking about it, or getting wasted at school. She liked Mariah, so she didn't care if she drank in the cafeteria, but she didn't feel like being judged anymore today.

"Alright, so I take it you've heard all the bull crap floating around about the Breakfast Club today?"

Sophie nodded.

"Its real front page stuff, let me tell you."

"For Shermer High, it is. We're talking about a social revoltuion here. Anarchy from the bottom to the top. This place is going to get worse before it gets better too, mark my words."

"So what's the story? Why's everybody going so wild?"

Mariah proceeded to give a better picture of all the gossip she'd heard around Shermer all day. Apparently, the five very different students had come together in the library on Saturday, forced to interact because of their shared detentions. But something had profoundly changed in there. The rumors and stories were all over the place, but Mariah had some concrete theories.

"Claire and Bender are a thing now, although I doubt that'll stick. Andrew and Alison are smitten, and I think that one will cause the most stir. Brian's probably going to migrate from loserville to the C list, riding high on his fifteen minutes of fame. He didn't bag a girl, but his reputation's certainly got a little boost."

Sophie had finished her lunch. The period would be over in ten minutes and then she'd only have two more periods till she could go home.

"So they're dating outside of their social groups? That's the big deal?"

Mariah finished her makeshift cocktail and grabbed an oversized leather purse from the seat beside her.

"I gotta get out of here, but we'll meet back up, same time tomorrow. I'll explain more later, take you under my wing and all that. You're going to need a navigator on these stormy seas."

"I don't really-"

"See you tomorrow doll!"

With that she was off and a few minutes later the bell rang. Apparently there would be no closure on the Breakfast Club subject just yet. It didn't really matter though. What stake did she have in the whole thing? She was an outsider. Getting up and heading towards the double doors, she sighed. She was exhausted, and she still had drama and calculus to get through. Suddenly, she was regretting declining Mariah's drink. At that moment, she really could have used it.


	2. Chapter 2

"What the hell is this?" Sophie slammed her locker angrily, its metallic banging garnering her alarmed looks from the students around her "They can't do this to me!"

Mariah stood against the metal door next to her, her earphones blaring music and her Walkman in her hand. A freshman girl with glasses and a thin braid stood in front of her, trying without success to the locker behind her.

"Mariah." Sophie snatched the cassette player away from her "They can't do this to me, can they?"

She held up a set of stapled papers with the School's seal at the top of each that she'd found taped to her locker. Mariah wound her Walkman up in the cord of her headphones. Shoving it in her purse, she snatched the papers from Sophie's hands. She wasn't in the best mood today.

"Miss Bishop, we have reviewed your transcripts and according to Illinois state standards, blah, blah, blah; your class schedule has been revised as to keep you on track for Graduation this semester, blah blah blah….If you have any questions, feel free to drop by my office…."

Mariah looked up at her and shrugged.

"Seems pretty legitimate to me, I mean its not like you can do anything about it."

"Bullshit. I'll go to the Counselor's office like he said."

"He'll tell you the same thing. All you're going to do is make yourself late to-"

She scanned the paper stapled quickly and smiled.

"…French class and Mademoiselle Norris is a right ogre. She'd make an example of you for sure."

Sophie grabbed her new schedule. It had changed completely. For the first three days of her time at Shermer, English had been her first period followed by French, Biology, US Government, Home Ec, Drama and finally Calculus. This had become her habit, her routine. Three days had given her a small bit of stability. She had already memorized the quickest routes from her locker to most of her classes and her lunches with Mariah had gotten her at least one friend. Now they were ruining everything.

"I have to take Phys Ed? What the hell, that was an elective at my school."

Mariah laughed, looking at her purple wrist watch.

"Sorry doll, its required here in Illinois. Don't look so depressed, at least we've still got lunch together." She gave her a wink.

"What's Industrial Arts?" Sophie asked as they walked away from her locker.

"Shop class, duh." She laughed and pulled her headphones back over her ears "Alright, I'm off. See you at Lunch."

Sophie waved her a goodbye and went her own way, making a bee line towards her new French class. She'd had Monsieur Browning's second period class, and had been pretty cool with his laid back approach. Now she'd have to adjust to a new teacher again. Then she'd have seven more teachers to meet. She cursed under her breath and looked at the rest of her schedule. She'd have Government in second period, followed by Biology. Then Gym, which she was dreading, followed by Trig.

She had a feeling Trigonometry would make Phys. Ed. Feel like a cakewalk. Then she'd have a bit of an oasis at lunch with Mariah. Then shop, which she could only imagine would include power tools, which might be fun but could be extremely dangerous for her fellow students. Then she'd end out the day with…Journalism? That didn't sound too bad. She'd written freelance pieces for her last school paper and she'd enjoyed it, so maybe it wasn't all bad.

As she searched for the French room, she tried to stay positive. But walking in the room made her change her tune. Right in front of her, sitting at a desk in the second row, was the Amazon blonde from the first day. She fixed Sophie with a sour look and then laughed under her breath. A girl a few seats away giggled too, some others in the class followed. Sophie didn't mind.

What she did mind was seeing that the only open desk in the room was right by the Amazon blonde. Sophie had come to know her as Veronica Sharpe, the premiere senior girl of Shermer High. She was both loved and feared in equal measure, and the rest hated her. She was probably the most disgusting human being Sophie had ever encountered and the few times they had interacted hadn't been pleasant.

"You must be Mademoiselle Bishop!" a heavy set woman in a sweater called from the front of the classroom "Bienvenue à la classe française!"

Sophie nodded at Miss Norris, who was passing out colored paper and talking about French club meetings. She leaned back in her seat and focused on the black board. Her eyes flittered to Mademoiselle Norris, who's black sweater was covered in pet fur. Her hair was frizzy and she had a double chin, but she was nice. Sophie watched her as she handed a packet of colored pieces of paper to a girl in the front row.

Her eyes lingered on the girl. Short red hair and excessively expensive clothes meant one thing at Shermer, Claire Standish. Sophie had heard a lot about her, but had only passed her once or twice in the hall. Apparently she'd been trying to keep a low profile because of the whole "Breakfast Club" debacle. Sophie thought it was pointless; but one person who still harbored ill will? Veronica Sharpe.

"I wonder how long till Princess Standish drops out due to sheer embarrassment. Did you hear one of that cretin's other concubines nearly killed her in gym class? It sounded hilarious. Poor thing probably wet her Guess jeans."

She said it loud enough for her friends and Claire to hear, but Miss Norris was occupied in her desk. Claire didn't comment, but she cringed. Sophie saw a little red scratch on her face, unsuccessfully covered by makeup. Had one of Bender's girl's given her that?

Claire caught Sophie staring and shot daggers at her, as if daring her to say something. She smiled and rolled her eyes, nodding ever so slightly towards Veronica. She made a pig face by pushing up her nose and mocking Veronica's little aside.

Some other students laughed, including Claire. Veronica turned around and if looks could kill, Sophie imagined she'd have flat lined in the middle of her new French class. She burst out laughing at the thought, and the rest of the class laughed louder. Mademoiselle Norris held up one meaty hand and scowled.

"Arrêter de parler! Il ya des verbes à conjuguer!"  
_Stop talking__! __There are __verbs to __combine._

Sophie and Claire gave each other one last look of amusement and then were silent. The rest of the class, Veronica scribbled harsh notes on her notebook and didn't make eye contact. When the bell rang she snapped up, her cream colored skirt fluttering as she rushed out. Sophie threw her backpack over her shoulder and headed out, chalking up a point against the evil Amazon bitch. As she passed through the door, she pulled out her schedule, pausing for a moment. As she stopped, someone entered her peripheral vision. It was the red head, Claire. Sophie looked up, meeting her gaze.

"Hi."

"Hi. You're the new girl. From New York, right?"

She'd heard that so many times in the past three days, she was sick of it. Her name was Sophie! New Girl Bishop didn't have the same ring. She gritted her teeth and ran a hand through her hair.

"Yeah. And you're Claire Standish. Rich girl who bagged herself the leader of the pack, right?"

Claire looked taken aback, and Sophie suddenly regretted her anger. She took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry. It's been a really bad week for me." She held up the schedule "They switched all my classes around, and this place is really ruining any sort of hope I had of a good spring semester."

Sophie closed her eyes for a minute and stuck out her hand.

"Let's try this again. I'm Sophie Bishop, the horribly insensitive bitch. What's your name?"

Claire laughed and shook her head, extending her own hand in return.

"I'm Claire. It's nice to meet you Sophie."

They kept walking, Claire with her head down and Sophie staring at her next scheduled class in extreme confusion.

"Speaking of insensitive bitches." The red head giggled a moment and then glanced at Sophie "What's the story with you and Veronica?"

Sophie snorted.

"Not much of a story. The first day she decides to try and get under my skin. I didn't take it so well, and I think she's not used to people sticking up for themselves."

"She isn't."

"Yeah, well, she'd got a few more chances but if she doesn't get off my case, I'll make her wish she'd never been born."

Claire looked taken aback, but Sophie laughed.

"Not really. I can be pretty annoying if circumstances call for it. That's all. Nobody died of a little annoyance, did they?"

She winked. Claire shrugged and then nodded towards the bathroom as they neared it.

"It was cool to meet you Sophie. See you tomorrow?"

"Same here Claire."

She gave a wave and headed onward towards Government. From what she understood, Claire Standish had been every bit as evil and bitchy as Veronica up until that historic Monday. Either Mariah had been mistaken about her character or her current social downgrade really had done wonders for her personality. Sophie didn't dwell on it much, Claire had been nice enough, and they had a common enemy in Veronica Sharpe. She'd take any allies she could get here at Shermer. Plus she was interested in seeing just how this fallen high school royalty was coping with her exile.

That idea stuck with her as she made her way into Mr. Talbot's Government class. She recognize a few faces in this classroom, and got a few nods and even one smile. Okay, that wasn't bad. People weren't even gawking. She took a soothing breath and approached the front desk. The teacher was a handsome man in his thirties or forties and he smiled kindly at Sophie. She smiled back, suddenly very happy with the switch. When he spoke, in a smooth Southern accent, she nearly fainted.

"Miss Bishop, it's a pleasure to have you in class. You're seats in the fourth row, second from the door."

He gave her a quick nod and she walked slowly back to her seat, hoping she didn't look like a tomato, she was probably blushing like crazy.

"Mr. Talbot strikes again!" a guy's voice was beside her "If it turns you on that much, I can do a pretty good Southern accent."

The guy was cute, with neatly cut blonde hair and a bright smile. His eyes flashed with mischief and Sophie couldn't help but be drawn in. She turned in her desk, facing him with a dazzling smile of her own. He was wearing a letterman's jacket. A jock, something she'd familiar with. Back home she'd been attracted to two types of men, musicians and athletes. But this was Chicago, not New York, and most of Shermer's jock crowd made her skin crawl. She raised an eyebrow.

"Prove it." She called him out, resting her head in the palm of her hand.

"As you like it, ma 'mm." he drawled like he'd been born in Atlanta "I could keep it up for _hours_."

A few howls and whistles from the boys around him. He paid them no attention. As Mr. Talbot started class, the Lettermans were silenced and Sophie turned back toward the front. She felt the blonde boy's stare on her, and felt goose bumps crop up. That was not a good sign.

A few minutes into class, the door opened, and another guy in a letterman's jacket came in. He looked at Mr. Talbot, who waved him to his desk with a frustrated sigh. He marked something on a sheet of paper and continued writing. Sophie recognized him too, Andrew Clark. He was the jock who'd been caught up in the Breakfast Club thing. That was the second one of them she had a class with. Before, she'd glimpsed them briefly in the halls, and in Mariah's year book. Andrew was attractive too, but she knew that he was now involved in a torrid love affair with the Alison girl, the one everyone had shunned or hated. Veronica was now protesting that, for the crime of being her boyfriend, Andrew should be shunned and hated too.

He sat in a spot near all the other guys, dressed similar to him. The cute boy beside her watched him sit. They didn't speak but made eye contact, they both looked sad. One of the beefier jocks made a muffled noise and Sophie heard a word beneath his feigned cough.

"Loser."

Some laughter here and there. Andrew didn't make any movements or say anything. After a moment he turned towards the front. Sophie noticed the guy hadn't laughed. He still looked sad, and glared down at his desk as Talbot began talking about a project on Amendments.

She felt bad for Andrew. He'd stood his ground. He hadn't kept a low profile like Claire, but had been up front and honest about his feelings for Alison and his friendships with the other members of his Breakfast Club. That took a lot of guts. She studied the boy beside her and wondered what his name was. Then, Talbot started calling out groups.

Sophie felt dread swell up inside her. She hated group projects. This one was for groups of three, ten groups in total. She waited for the teacher to call her name. When he finally did, she listened intently for her partners.

"Sophia Bishop, Andrew Clark and Kenneth Wilson; you will be in group C."

She looked around to where he had taped up papers with the first ten letters of the alphabet on them. She and her group mates got there one by one. First Sophie, then Andrew, then Andrew's best friend Kenny Wilson. The handsome blonde was Kenny Wilson. Sophie stared at the floor.

"Now we're going to draw for Amendments. There are…how many Amendments are there class?"

"Twenty six." Kenny answered without raising his hand, his voice was obviously strained.

"Very good Mr. Wilson. There are twenty six pieces of paper in here and only ten teams. You will randomly pick from this bag." He held up a tan drawstring bag "And will do a full report on why your amendment is the most important. For extra credit, you may also suggest a 27th Amendment, which we as a class will vote  
on."

Sophie focused on the project guideline Talbot had passed out. She could cut the tension between these guys with a knife. Talbot finished passing out the papers and held up the bag.

"Please send one team member up to pick an Amendment."

She shot up and headed forward, ready to get out of the highly charged situation. A few minutes in the back of the line might help, she doubted it, but she'd cross that bridge when she got there. As her turn neared she reached her hand in and grabbed one, opening it quickly.

"The 6th Amendment."

Talbot beamed.

"And what Amendment is that?"

"The right to a speedy trial by jury?"

Sophie wasn't a hundred percent sure, but Talbot smiled.

"A _fair _and speedy _public _trial by jury. Alright, Group C is the sixth Amendment."

She headed back to her seat and after everyone got settled in, Talbot answered questions, and went over some of the notes from last class. This would be their final project, half of their final grade. That meant it was important. Sophie had a bad feeling about this. She couldn't fail her honors classes. For one, she needed to graduate, and for two her scholarship opportunities depended on it.

When he was done there was only about fifteen minutes left of class. Sophie picked up her papers again and scanned over them. The guys hadn't spoken.

"Alright, so we'll need to research and we'll need to think of a game plan. How are we going to present this stuff?"

Andrew nodded, flipping through the pages himself.

"And I think we should do the extra credit assignment too. It shouldn't be too hard to add in."

"If you can come up for air long enough to help us. You've been spending all your time playing tonsil hockey with-"

"I think the extra credits a must too. We haven't got much time today, but by tomorrow we should have some ideas ready to talk about. Tomorrow we can set up an out of class study schedule, and we'll make sure everyone's on the same page."

She smiled, trying to look serene. She might as well get her Ghandi on, or else her grade could be forfeit to this testosterone fueled awkwardness. She waited.

"Sounds great to me." Kenny growled. He looked at Sophie for the first time since the beginning of class and attempted a smile. "I'm Ken Wilson, nice to meet you."

"Sophie Bishop, likewise." She turned to Andrew "Nice to meet both of you."

That silence again, heavy. Andrew nodded, but didn't speak. He looked…well, he looked like he was about to lose it. The three of them spent the rest of the period in that same silence, scribbling ideas onto their papers. When the bell rang, each boy waited, giving each other a wide berth. Andrew left first. As Sophie was trying to get up the hem of her dress got caught on the desk and she felt a cool breeze stir around her knees. She gasped, but Kenny quickly pulled it from the desk and let the lacy material flutter back down beside her skin. She felt her heart race.

"I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

She shrugged and collected her things.

"I think he was way more uncomfortable than I was." She nodded towards a retreating Andrew "You guys had me worried you were going to kill each other before I could get an A on this crap."

He laughed. As she tried to pass he stood, pressing her up against the desk behind her. He smiled, looking down on her with a knowing grin. Then he backed up and ushered her past him, letting her through the door first, like a gentleman. But once she hit the hall, she noticed he'd already begun bounding down the opposite way, his jock friends bounding along with him. She blew a piece of hair off her forehead and started on her own way. This class schedule was a lot more strenuous and it was only third period. Sophie cursed the office again and slung her backpack over her shoulder. Onto Biology she would go, and she could only hope that it was more peaceful than the last two. Hopefully she could avoid all the Breakfast Club drama too, at least for one period.


	3. Chapter 3

It didn't seem possible. It didn't seem like the Universe could be so repetitive. For the third time that day, the day that would forever change her existence at Shermer high, she was face to face with another member of the Breakfast Club. Alison Reynolds had been sitting alone at one of the back tables when she'd entered Room 341, but Sophie hadn't noticed her. She'd been given her seat assignment by Mrs. Cooper and had made her way over, smiling at one or two people she recognized. Not all smiled back, in general Shermer tended to be a tough crowd. When she got to lab table 3 she looked up and felt her eyes widen in surprise.

The girl awaiting her was very pretty. She wore a soft red shirt that showed most of her shoulders and sported a big, chunky belt around her waist and a black pencil skirt. She wore cute dangly earrings and her chocolate brown hair was curled slightly. She was the only one in the room without a lab partner and the table beside her had three students crammed into one lab table. Sophie raised an eyebrow. She hadn't been sure, Alison and Brian were the two of the group she'd seen the least of before now, but the strange seating arrangements gave her a pretty obvious clue.

This was Alison Reynolds, recently made over skitzo, weirdo, and basket case. She had been the one Sophie had been most interested in when she'd heard the Breakfast Club tale and now…here she was. From what she'd heard, Alison had been a fan of heavy eye makeup, baggy dark colored clothes and silence. Two of those things were gone; Sophie decided to test out the third.

"Hi." She set her things down and got onto the stool beside her "So what's the story with that?"

Sophie motioned towards the three odd students at the table beside her but Alison's face was deadpan. She didn't even turn her head to acknowledge Sophie's comment. She just stared at the board and said in a perfectly calm, reasonable voice.

"I stabbed the dark haired one with a mechanical pencil."

Sophie couldn't help it; she let out a barking laugh.

"No you didn't."

Alison met her gaze and a ghost of a smile crossed her face. Sophie turned her head to look at their neighbors. The one closest to her had short cut black hair; he stared over at them without turning his head, only peering from the corner of his eye. She held laughter back and pulled out her Biology book.

"What did he do to deserve _that_?"

"He fell asleep, and he was snoring. I hate people who snore."

Silence after that. Sophie gave her another amused, shocked look. Maybe the rumors were true. Maybe Alison was a nut case. Sophie almost rubbed her hands together with excitement. Crazy people were, in her experience, some of the most entertaining people to befriend. She turned in her stool, facing Alison with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't snore, but sometimes I grind my teeth. Should I be worried about getting shanked?"

Another slight smile, but barely. Before she could speak again Mrs. Cooper began her lesson. Today they would be starting the chapter on genetics. She wanted them to turn to that chapter and read silently for three pages, and then they would discuss it. Sophie forced herself to read it, but halfway through she found herself smiling to herself. Slowly, she lowered her head down to her book and closed her eyes. After a few moments she let a fake snore escape, and then another.

Beside her, Alison snickered. Mrs. Cooper looked up from her desk, but didn't even look in Alison's direction. She glared but didn't speak, and then went back to grading papers. Sophie let out one more snore, a loud one this time. Alison laughed and when Sophie opened her eyes she was holding up a mechanical pencil menacingly over Sophie's head. It was Sophie's turn to laugh now. Mrs. Cooper fixed her with the same glare and she continued reading the Chapter, trying hard not to snicker.

As the class wore on, and the lab assignment was passed out, Sophie motioned towards the letterman's jacket hanging on the side of the lab table.

"Your boyfriend snore?"

She blushed and made a strange peeping sound, like a little mouse. Sophie frowned, unsure what that little squeak meant. Alison shook her head, her hair falling to hide her face. There was such a disconnect between the girls personality and her pretty look. Any girl like her should have been confident and vivacious, but Sophie kept reminding herself that Claire had given this girl and overhaul and that underneath she was the girl who everyone had found cause to call "freak" and "psycho" around Shermer. She felt a jolt of annoyance at the cruelty of the students in this damn school. There must have been something in the water here in suburban Chicago.

"I wouldn't know."

"Because you haven't slept with him yet?" she raised an eye brown and gave a sarcastic little grin.

Alison fixed Sophie with a hard stare she suddenly looked the farthest thing from amused. Sophie shrugged, reading the paper the teacher had given them. They would be assembling DNA puzzles, separated by different colors. It seemed pretty easy to understand. She took out a pen and started underlining Mrs. Cooper's guidelines.

"Sorry. I'm just curious. I tend to over step my boundaries sometimes." She pointed to the box of multicolored plastic pieces and smiled "We were having such a grand time, after all."

She didn't smile or laugh, but she didn't scowl. She didn't talk much the rest of the class, and as they were packing up after the bell Sophie regretted her snide little aside. She took a deep breath and pulled her own jacket on, digging her nails into her palms.

"Look, I'm new here and this place is…it's been tough to find people that aren't big walking bags of shit. Don't let my smart ass mouth fool you, I'm desperate for companionship. My mom says it's a defense mechanism or some bull like that. I'm Sophie and I don't care if you're screwing your boyfriend or not. Its none of my business."

Silence again. Her eyes flittered towards the clock over the door and Sophie shook her head. She'd gone too far, and now she was going to make the poor thing late to fourth period. She grabbed her back pack and turned to leave but then Alison spoke.

"He's not my boyfriend. At least he never said he was. I don't know what he is."

She'd gained a little ground.

"Well if he's giving you his letterman, he'll get there eventually. Guys like him don't take that stuff lightly. Plus you're smoking; he'd be crazy not to cuff you."

They both headed out the door and Sophie was happy to see Alison's little smile. She was fidgety and nervous in the sea of people and Sophie envisioned her as a lost little puppy. She knew that was probably a farfetched notion, but she held onto it none the less. She liked Alison, she decided that they'd be friends.

"I'm starving. God, what I wouldn't give to skip fourth period and go to the cafeteria." Sophie said as Alison stopped at her locker. Alison looked up, as if she was surprised that Sophie was still there. "What period do you eat lunch?"

"Sixth period."

"Me too! How come I've never seen you around the cafeteria?"

She was silent, digging in her locker. On the side were some photos. Some were in black and white, some color. A few had some morbid subject matter, but some were downright breath taking. There was a drawing too, it was of some sort of garden, but the flowers and plants looked alien and unfamiliar. It was really good.

Alison mumbled something, but Sophie was too busy looking at the photos and artwork on the locker door. Suddenly the door slammed shut and Sophie jumped. She looked at Alison.

"Those were great. Did you take the pictures? Did you draw the-"

"I said its because I eat in the art room." Alison cut her off "I have a double period of art right after lunch so it lets me get a little extra work done."

Well that answered Sophie's question. She gave Alison an appreciative nod.

"You're really good, you know. I imagine you're going to art school after you Graduate?"

Alison shrugged. Sophie was surprised. Someone with her talent needed to foster it, to make it grow. She didn't push on the subject though. She had to go to the Gymnasium, even though she was dreading it. She didn't want to be late to that class and come stumbling out of the locker room last.

"Anyway, if you ever want to ditch the art classroom and live life on the dangerous side, I sit towards the soda machines at the circular table with Mariah Lowe, you're welcome to join us if you'd like. See you around!"

Then she was off, snaking her way through the crowd towards the Gym. This would be hell, she cursed the Illinois state standards. She couldn't remember the last time she'd seen the inside of a gym, let alone had a PE class. She just prayed they wouldn't have to shimmy up a damn rope.

* * *

"Bishop! Sophia Bishop!"

She stepped forward from the line of girls. Dressed in black shorts, white tube socks, sneakers and a blue and silver 'Shermer High Bulldogs' tee shirt, she felt like a walking stereotype. Tall, long legged, with the physique of a prepubescent thirteen year old boy and looking as awkward as possible she watched as Mr. Owens marked her name and stepped back into the line. The boys were on the other side of the gym, some snickered and she heard one laugh loudly.

When Mr. Owens turned to begin taking role for the guys, she held her hand up, her middle finger erect. She didn't look at any of them specifically but it silenced the laughter. She crossed her arms over her chest (which was missing one very helpful push up bra) and tapped her foot, ready to get this over with. Finally role was taken and all the students converged on the circle in the middle of the gym floor. Mr. Owens picked up a bag off the floor and took a red rubber ball out. Sophie felt her heart stop beating in her chest.

"That's right kids, its dodge ball day. Girls vs. boys, girls at the south end boys at the north. Let's get this going!"

Suddenly there was a burst of activity. These kids had done this before, obviously. By the time Sophie got her bearings she and Mr. Owens were alone in the middle of the gym and a chorus of laughter rose from both side. Mr. Owens stared at her.

"Well…go on!"

She turned to go and nearly tripped, catching herself at the last moment. More laughter. Her face turned bright red, like a big glowing radioactive tomato. She wanted so badly to disappear.

"Come on Olive Oil we don't have all day!"

Sophie saw him as she found her place amongst the girls. She'd been thanking god she wouldn't have to endure the picking of teams, when some guy thought he'd start a standup routine. She looked up and saw a smug look on a slightly familiar face. If she didn't know any better she'd have thought that the school had set her up for this. Why else would John Bender (the fourth consecutive Breakfast Club member) now be taunting her from the other side of her gym class? She felt a lump in her throat.

Then, suddenly the whistle blew and there was chaos all around her. The whole class was running for the balls in the middle of the court and Sophie ran with them, but by the time she reached the line all the balls had been taken. Standing a few feet away from her, with a malicious grin on his face, was the same John Bender. He lifted a ball above his head in his fingerless glove clad hands and without warning he lobbed it at her. It came whizzing at her so quickly she barely had time to react and it whizzed past her as she side stepped. Then she turned, grabbing the ball from the floor and darting back for the line of girls. Balls were flying and she could hear rubber hitting skin everywhere. She bobbed and weaved, using her ball as a shield until her team had run out of balls to throw. They guys, who were down from sixteen to eight had hoarded all the balls, ready to attack the girls who had only fallen from fifteen to ten. She threw the ball to a talk, muscular girl who she thought was named Gladys. She'd been getting most of their hits.

With one meaty arm, Gladys threw the ball and Sophie watched as it landed, smacking Bender square in the face and making a gnarly slapping sound. Laughter rose as he stumbled back and got to his feet. From her spot, Sophie cupped her hands and called out to him.

"Maybe get rid of the gloves next time Madonna, it might help a bit!"

The girls all let out a chorus of laughter until the volley of balls from the other side of the gym sent them all scattering. Sophie smiled at John as he headed for the side of the gym with the other guys who'd been hit out. He flipped her off, rubbing the side of his red face in annoyance. Sophie blew him a kiss and dove for a ball, catching it and tagging a guy from her spot on the floor. Maybe gym wouldn't be so bad.

After the period was over, and she'd showered and changed back into her street clothes, she found herself face to face with Bender again, after he exited the locker room. His face wasn't red anymore, but the cruel smile on his face made Sophie think his pride was still stinging. She turned and kept walking, aware of the group of sketchy looking guys that had followed him out of the guy's locker room. The girls may have thought her little comment was funny, but none of them seemed to be gathering around her in support. She didn't like the look of it. But the sound of footsteps behind her made her regret she'd decided to be so hilarious.

"Not so talkative now huh?" he said, in a voice that oozed sarcasm "That's a shame, I thought you were hilarious back there."

She kept walking, but he jumped in front of her, a hard glint in his brown eyes. His hair was long and slightly damp from the showers. He wore a black under shirt and a ripped and faded 'Slayer' tee shirt over that. Holy jeans, big clunky boots and a wallet chain. She rolled her eyes and stopped in her track, putting her hands on her hips.

"Thanks, just working off of your material. The Popeye reference was real original, never heard that one."

He snorted and looked at her chest, a grin spreading on his face. He would have been handsome if he wasn't such a prick wad. She hated guys like him, bullies with that horrible flannel punk style. He was a true dick and she didn't care for people who were cruel for cruelties sake. It was one thing to be a smart ass, but another to take pleasure in tearing other people down.

"Hey, I do what I can. By the way, me and my friends were wondering if you were ok. It seems like you've grown some very interesting bumps on your chest. We didn't see any when we were in the gym. You might want to get that checked out."

Sophie felt her face flare up. She heard a guy behind her mumble something about "mosquito bites". She stood up straighter and took a step in Bender's direction. Her Father had always taught her that when dealing with a bully, it was good to assert your dominance early. Let him know you weren't going to take any shit. And Sophie Bishop took many things, but she never, _ever, _took shit from anybody.

"Listen, we could totally do this whole song and dance, but I have this allergy to degenerates who part their hair down the middle and wear tattered clothes. So I'll need to cut this short."

He didn't respond, but looked at her with a questioning glance. She continued.

"If I pretend to be all hurt and damaged by your third grade bullshit will you let me get to class? I know you've got a busy schedule of soul crushing to boost your nonexistent self-esteem, and I'm willing to tear up and run away crying if it'll let you get back to your outward expression of self-loathing faster."

He was silent, giving her a cold violent stare. She smiled. There was no noise from the peanut gallery. She decided most of them didn't understand most of what she said, as her seemed to prefer the company of Neanderthals. Sometimes it helped to have a Shrink for a mom, Psychobabble did wonders in arguments.

Bender didn't talk. He smirked a little, as if he had thought of another barb, but Sophie was going to get out of there before he let it land. She might have played tough, but even she wasn't immune to barrages of stinging insults, and she'd bet money that John Bender was an expert at those.

So she pushed past him, covering her eyes with her hand and pretending to cry. At the end of the hall she turned, waving with a smile. As she turned she heard him telling one of his cronies to "Shut the hell up!" and chalked that encounter up as a win. But on her way to Trig she couldn't help but wonder just what Claire saw in that asshole. He might have been okay to look at, but he was a rotten apple if she'd ever seen one…


	4. Chapter 4

"Excuse me, but that's _my _calculator."

A voice announced from beside her, and Sophie cringed with annoyance. Of course it was. It had been on the floor near the foot of her desk and she had been more than happy to use it. She'd left hers at home and had only figured it out as she settled into her desk. This being Trig, and not Calculus, she knew she couldn't get through it without one. Reluctantly she handed the machine back to her neighbor. His name was Larry Lester, if she remembered correctly. She shrugged.

"Sorry." She said with a smile "Mind if I use it when you're done?"

He didn't answer, just stared at her from behind a set of thick glasses. She waited for answer but he just ignored her. He covered his paper with his arm and went back to his room. Sophie scoffed. This kid had some nerve.

"Asshole." She whispered, but he didn't flinch.

She imagined he'd been called much worse. Before she'd walked in she'd seen two guys playing monkey in the middle with his Trig book. He heart had gone out to him and she had purposely dumped her stack of books on one of the jerk's feet. Now she wished she'd left him to suffer.

"Don't mind him." Another voice whispered from behind her "He's having a real bad week."

_Aren't we all? _

She only spoke this bitter thought to herself. She refused to answer the guy behind her. His name was Brian Anderson and she had spent the whole class not talking to him, looking at him or acknowledging his existence in any way. Her frustration had reached a record high when she'd entered and recognized yet another member of the notorious Breakfast Club in her class. Now she'd collected them all, so to speak. But she was tired of the whole shtick, she was hungry and to top it off she hated math. She was not in the mood for this infuriating cosmic joke the universe seemed hell bent on playing out.

He had been nice, which is what had made it that much harder to be such a bitch. He had tried to make small talk on several occasions, but she'd shot him down every time. Slowly her anger had started to subside, and she'd realized that it was not Brian's fault and she was directing all her ire on him. Now, as class neared its end, she felt a real, tangible, pang of regret. What had this poor kid done to deserve her rude behavior? She'd even extended kindness to Larry, who had returned it with nothing but disdain, but had been indifferent towards the innocent Brian. She took a deep breath and turned around in her seat.

"Would you mind if I borrowed yours? Just for a second?"

Brian nodded and flashed her a bright smile. This was the nerd then? That wasn't a hard sell. He wore khakis, a sensible brown belt and a black sweater. His pants were a little too high on his ankles and his plain black loafers weren't fashionable enough to be considered preppy. He handed her his calculator and she thanked him quietly. As she clicked away on it, she spied him leaning up in his desk to look at her paper.

"You got number six wrong."

She stopped writing and gave the problem another look.

"You find the answer using opposite over hypotenuse, not hypotenuse over opposite."

He said it as if it were the simplest thing in the world. Sophie let out a long, slow breath and laid her pencil down. The whole paper was a mess, with her work filling up the designated spaces and all the extra in the margins. She had a bad feeling about this class. She couldn't let it tank her GPA.

"Oh God."

Brian was silent behind her. Then he let out a little chuckle. She turned around quickly, looking at him with wide eyes. He was cute in his own awkward, gangly way, but if he was laughing at her it didn't matter if he was an adorable little bunny rabbit. Today was not the day.

"I'm sorry." He said earnestly "You just looked so hopeless. Trig isn't your strong suit, I'm guessing?"

She smiled, in spite of herself. This kid was earnest, and genuinely nice. She could have kicked herself for being such a bitch. Her encounter with Bender had soured her mood, but she was starting to get her mojo back.

"I'm not stupid." She said quietly, brushing her hair back from her face "But no, numbers have never been my friends. But who cares? I'll never use this shit in the real world."

He laughed again, and she didn't feel her pride prickle this time.

"You never know. But you do need a good grade in Trig don't you? I mean, if you're a senior you do. That is, if you still have to make qualifications for Graduation. What I mean to say is-"

It was her turn to laugh as he stumbled over his words. He blushed. She had a moment of premonition as she spoke to Brian. She guessed that he and Alison would have the strongest bond of friendship in this little grab bag of misplaced friends. Meeting each of them, one by one, had given her a perspective on this group that she had never intended on having. Now that she did, her imagination was running wild. What exactly had happened in that library? What happened during this mythic eight hour visit to the twilight zone? How had these five, very different individuals come together? It almost seemed impossible. Had she not witnessed the turmoil they'd caused with their unholy alliance this whole week, she would have scoffed at the idea.

"You're right. I do need at least a B. I want to go to NYU in the fall."

Sophie hadn't told that to anyone since she'd left New York. Any questions about future plans were shrugged off. What did these kids care about NYU? Most of them would go to school in the windy city. This was their mecca, the same was New York was hers. She didn't share, because they wouldn't understand.

"Yeah. I'd like MIT, or maybe Harvard myself. I always wanted to live on the East Coast."

It was as if he'd read her mind. She locked eyes with him, her face intense. He looked startled, but she made an effort to relax her face. He hadn't read her mind, but that timing had caught her off guard. She stared down at his paper, which didn't show a lot of work, but she was guessing they were all the correct answers.

"Well, good thing you won't have to worry about Trig ruining your GPA then, huh?"

She blew a hair out of her face and turned back to her own paper. Staring up at the clock she realized the bell would ring in five minutes. She'd have to turn this in unfinished, and then tonight she'd have a mountain of homework in the same vein. It made her head hurt just thinking about it.

"Listen, I don't mean this to offend you…"

He paused, trying to find the right words.

"Would you like me to tutor you?"

Sophie's pencil paused. Tutor her? Since when had Sophie Bishop ever needed a tutor? She WAS the tutor, not the other way around. But the swarm of numbers in front of her was making her stomach feel queasy. She went with her gut in that instant, because she felt like her Trig grade would be in good hands with Brian, and he seemed like a cool guy.

"It would be a big help." She held out her hand "I'm Sophie by the way. Sophie Bishop. Nice to meet you Brian."

He raised an eyebrow.

"You know my name?" he asked in surprise. The teacher hadn't called roll that class.

"Who doesn't know your name? The whole school's been buzzing about the lot of you all week. I'd have to be deaf, blind and dumb to not know who you were."

Brian mulled over that fact for a moment, and then he smiled.

"Well, its nice to meet you too Sophie. When would you like to get started?"

She had promised Mariah that they could go grab something to eat after school, so it would have to be a little later, and the school library closed at four thirty. Then she remembered what day it was.

"My parents usually have date night on Thursdays; I don't think that's changed since we moved here. Even if they don't go out, my dad's got a study we can squat in. You could come over around six? Would that be okay?"

He looked as if she'd touched him with a cattle prod. He nodded, without a sound. She watched him, feeling a little awkward. Then she tore a corner off her paper and wrote her number down, along with her address, writing SOPHIE in capital letters as well.

"Ok. Yeah. Ok, yeah, sure." His voice cracked and he stuffed the number in his pocket "I'll call you before I head over."

Then the bell rang. He jumped out of his seat as if he'd been startled. His books all fell from his desk onto the floor. A few guys in the back of the room snickered. Larry Lester dropped down, helping Brian pick them up. Sophie bent down to help and felt a pinch on her backside. A beefy guy with shaggy brown hair winked at her and his friends laughed. They were all wearing letterman's jackets. Sophie didn't pursue, just flipped the guy off.

"You guys have a real jock problem around here, you know that?" she said loud enough for Mrs. Eisner to hear, but the old woman merely gave her a pointed look.

What could she do about those rambunctious boys? Her eyes seemed to say. What could she really do? Sophie felt heat rise to her cheeks. Shermer really sucked. She handed Brian the book, his friend Larry staring up at her as if he'd just seen her for the first time.

"You don't know the half of it." He said in a quiet voice.

Brian looked down on him and gave a shrug. He headed out, turning around once at the door he flashed another smile.

"See you tonight Sophie."

She nodded and grabbed her own backpack. She didn't say anything to Larry. Bullied or not, he'd still been an asshole.

* * *

Mariah would not stop laughing. As she nibbled on a baby carrot, she giggled. As she took a sip of her chocolate milk, she snorted. When she tried to pour her daily dose of vodka into her juice, she let out a loud honk of laughter. Sophie gritted her teeth and spoke through them.

"I'm glad someone finds it amusing."

She stabbed a green bean with her plastic fork and ate it, staring past Mariah towards the sea of people. She was making sure Alison wasn't anywhere around, considering she'd extended an invitation and now she was talking about her horrible day amidst the Breakfast Club.

"I do! I mean every single one? One right after the other! And this whole mess has done nothing but annoy you. Anyone else would pay for that kind of access around here, but you don't want anything to do with it. It's a bit ironic, don't you think?"

"No." Sophie said "You obviously don't understand the concept of irony."

But Sophie didn't either, not all of the time; the whole idea was really confusing. If this was ironic, it was the shitiest irony she'd ever endured. All though, her moment of clarity in Trigonometry had kindled a bit of curiosity and a bit of imagination. As the thoughts came racing back her annoyance with Mariah fled.

"You know, I can see now why everyone's so interested. How in the hell did those five end up friends? Lovers even? They're all so different."

"That's the point isn't it?" Mariah said "That's why the whole school's been spazzing out. The old order has been disturbed. They're ushering in some serious anarachy, I'm telling you. Perfect timing too, senioritis is rampant. I can't wait to get the hell out of this place."

She knocked back her juice.

"But really, now that you've got a foot in the door, so to speak, I think you should do some deep sea diving. Get a little info out of them."

Sophie nodded, but then her eyes grew serious.

"Not Bender." She said decisively "I could give a flying fuck what his story is."

Mariah looked offended.

"What's so wrong with Bender?" she asked with a look of curiosity "You don't even know him."

"I know enough!"

She proceeded to tell her friend about Gym Class. Mariah listened and nodded and by the end she seemed to understand. Sophie gave her a look.

"What was that about anyway? You were really quick to defend him Mariah."

"He's my friend, that's all. He gets a bad rap sometimes, people don't get it."

Sophie scoffed and started piling her trash onto her tray. Mariah fixed her with a look that wasn't too pleasant, but Sophie kept her opinions to herself. She looked around again, deciding Alison wasn't going to show. She was in the Art room. Oh well, at some point she'd get her to come out in the open."

"Hey." Mariah said after a bit of silence "I forgot to tell you, I've got journalism eighth period as well. You can share my desk since there'll be no senior spots left. Mr. Heaver won't mind. We'll make a good team."

She smiled at the friendly gesture. Mariah was a good girl, and someone Sophie imagined hadn't been close to many people in high school. She was glad a readymade friend had been waiting, one who showed promise of being a really bitching girlfriend. Sophie nodded enthusiastically.

"I'd be honored Mar." She tried out a nickname, but Mariah's face pinched "Ok, I'd be honored _Mariah._"

"Good. Now I'm off, have fun in shop class. Buzz!"

As she walked off Sophie called after her.

"Buzz? Like a saw? Are there going to be saws?"

She was gone, without an answer.

"Aw shit."

As the bell rang she slung her bag over her back and jogged out of the cafeteria. Only two more classes till freedom. But then she remembered it was only Thursday, and it was only March, and her time in suburgatory was going to drag on and on and on. Maybe she'd have an accident with a table saw that would put her out of her misery…

A girl could dream, couldn't she?


	5. Chapter 5

The "shop" classroom wasn't as fearsome as Sophie had first imagined. As she made her way through the work benches and tool kits she inhaled deeply. The smell of freshly cut wood and glue seemed to perk her mood up a little. Birdhouses, ceramic lamps, metal working and woodcuts jumped out at her from every angle. There were model airplanes and helicopters hanging down from strings and she saw a huge, stain glass window design towards the back of the room. At the front of the room, Mr. Vincent was going over the homework turned in the night before, and had barely noticed his new student enter.

"Hey there!" he said amicably when he did notice her "You're my fresh meat huh? Well, come on in. We don't have seating arraignments around here but we do have work groups. You'll be over there at table 13."

The tables all had papers hanging down, with their numbers in big bold face, black text. She smiled at him and made her way over. She noticed the beefy guy from trig was there, but none of his jock friends surrounded him. He didn't even acknowledge her. She decided that wasn't bad, and she could play dumb if he could.

There were only four other girls in the class. One had a short, spiky haircut and a really, really large bosom. Another was thin with big glasses and looked down on the floor as if she was afraid to look up at anything other than her shoes. A curly haired strawberry blonde was leaning over her table suggestively, her high cut shorts making Sophie wonder if she knew it was only about fifty degrees outside. The last was in her group. She was pretty, with dark hair like Sophie and a ready smile. She seemed relieved that she was heading towards their table.

"Well John, looks like we don't have to worry about Seth. We get the new girl!"

John, who had a welding mask on and was getting his station set up, spun around and flung the metal mask up, exposing his face. When Sophie saw who it was, her shoulders slumped in disappointment. She bit her tongue to keep from saying something bitchy and flung her bag down. There was no chance he'd be willing to let gym slide like the roid- rager had.

"Joy. But you don't look that excited sweets. What's got you down?"

She felt her first balling up, but she managed a tight smile. Of course, this day was almost over, her bad Karma wasn't finished playing itself out yet. Whatever she'd done to deserve a second run in with this tool, must have been terrible.

"Some ugly jerk in my gym class really pissed me off earlier," she said as sweetly as possible "But everything's all good now. Who's Seth?"

She turned to the rest of the six person group, trying to assure that she didn't have to hear Bender's smart ass remark.

"A kid in our work group." muscles rolled his eyes, as if Sophie was stupid "He hasn't shown up all week. We needed him to pitch in for the rest of the supplies."

The girl fixed him with a look that told Sophie he annoyed her just as much.

"Me, John, Greg, Andrew and Barry-"

"Don't call me that." He said sullenly. Bender and the guys that Sophie could only assume we're Greg and Andrew all smiled and Bender even laughed. The big guy gave them all withering stares.

"Sorry. Me, John, Greg, Andrew and _Stubby_ have all paid our share. We needed his or else we wouldn't get our materials in time."

"Materials?"

"For our midterm project." Bender said, with no sarcastic quip in sight "We're making a present for Mr. Vincent."

His face changed subtly when he said it, almost like he was sad, but Sophie ignored it. It was weirding her out and she didn't care to see him as anything other than a jerk-face. Mariah may have believed he was nicer than he acted, but she had no plans of delving that deep. He was bad news, no question.

"How much do you need from me?" she said pulling her wallet out of her back pack "I've got like, twenty dollars in cash on me and I already ate lunch so I'm willing to-"

"We each paid fifteen." The girl said "I'm Amelia; I'm in charge of the funding."

She held out a white envelope.

Sophie pulled out three fives and slid them in. One of the guys, Andrew or Greg, looked puzzled.

"Don't you even want to know what it is?" he asked. She shook her head.

"As long as I don't have to use a saw, I don't care what it is."

She thought she saw a ghost of an amused smile on Bender's face. She frowned.

"But I guess I should probably know what I'm buying into."

Amelia beamed. She leaned in, her voice quiet.

"It's a surprise, so you can't go blabbing. We're making him a derby car."

Sophie knew what a derby car was, but she was more than a little surprised at the idea. What did a grown man need with a derby car?

"Ok…"

Bender scoffed.

"Well, let's get started with the plans then, before he busts out the kilns."

That perked Sophie up a little. Kilns meant pottery, usually, and that was something she loved to do. Stubby noticed her excitement and gave her a sour look. Amelia looked towards the front of the room. Most of the other groups were chatting or playing around, but Mr. Vincent seemed engrossed in a packet of papers. His face looked strained.

"He'll be busy for a while." Stubby said, looking annoyed again "I don't really think we have to start _today _anyway."

They all looked at him and Sophie guessed that he wasn't too keen on the idea.

"Shut up meat wad." Bender said "if you don't want in you can take your ass over to the next work station and make a clay pot for your mommy."

Stubby looked mad, but he didn't press the issue further. Sophie wondered why such a big guy would cower from this Bender kid. He wore the garb of a teenage delinquent, but wasn't even close to as big as the Shermer high football star. He seethed and stared down at the desk. Sophie sighed.

This day was never, ever going to end.

"Alright class! Let's start setting up the wheels and kilns!"

Bender cursed under his breath as Mr. Vincent surprised them all and they started to put away their plans and drawings. Sophie, who was filled to the brim with excitement, followed Amelia and helped to assembly their group's two pottery wheels. She saw the big tubs of clay and painting utensils and decided that shop class might be way more fun than she thought.

Beside her, Bender was turning one of the kilns on. He didn't strike her for much of a pottery enthusiast, but she didn't really care one way or another.

"Thanks for chipping in." Amelia said from beside her "You didn't have to."

Sophie smiled at the girl and grabbed a hunk of clay from her tub.

"It's only fifteen bucks. Thanks for being in the group. I don't know if I could handle being the only dose of estrogen in that mess."

They both laughed. The rest of the period went by quickly and as they were leaving, after the final bell, she saw bender sitting with Mr. Vincent at his desk. He looked tired, and sad. Bender patted his back, but when he spotted Sophie he jumped as if he'd been shocked. He mumbled something to his teacher and ran off, as if he was afraid of her or something. She rolled her eyes and made her way out. It was finally the last period of the day and she got to spend it with Mariah. Things were looking better and better now that she was so close to home, and so close to the freedom the weekend promised her.


	6. Chapter 6

"I have an idea."

The sentence brought Sophie back from a near coma, as he head sagged towards the desk. She looked up at the clock as Mariah's voice woke her. Twenty minutes. That's all that was left. Thursday was almost over and she felt her spirit lifting at the prospect of her freedom. Journalism wasn't all she had thought it would be. First of all, sharing a desk had been good in theory but was hard to put into practice. It was cramped and hard to work, even though she enjoyed the time with Mariah.

But that wasn't even the least of it. Mariah had forgotten to mention that the current Student editor of the Shermer High Bulldog (Published for and By Students) was one Veronica Sharpe. She had taken one look at Sophie and declared that the Senior writing positions were all filled, but it was fine if she shared Mariah's desk, she wouldn't be writing much anyway.

That had really set Sophie on edge. She couldn't go against Veronica's wishes. Now, the class she's anticipated the most, seemed like it was going to drag on into infinity, a boring, cramped hell hole. She turned to Mariah, half asleep.

"What's that?" she asked "Think we can get away with killing the bitch?"

Mariah laughed and scribbled something on her notebook. She looked up, making sure no one was around.

"You can still write. I think I know a story that Veronica couldn't resist."

"She'll never take it if it's from me Jaime. She's determined to crush my soul."

"Just listen. You're in a unique position. Now many people have the sources you do, the scoop that you do."

"What are you blabbering about Mariah? What sources or scoops do I have? I've been here four days."

She chuckled.

"We talked at lunch today, about a certain string of cosmic bullshit. You were upset because you'd come face to face with every single member of the Breakfast Club."

"Yeah? So? That's my story, annoyance about the dumb Breakfast Club? Mariah are you drunk?"

"Oh you're so small minded my little Sophie. You're going to infiltrate the Breakfast Club. You're going to get the story before anyone else. No more rumors and tall tales and legends. You can find out what happened inside that library on Saturday. You can find out what they're all really up to-"

"An how am I going to do that? Just because I have classes with them doesn't mean I'm going to be able to spy on them!"

"Please. It'll be easy. The geek-o-saurus is coming over tonight isn't he? And I imagine Claire's easy pickings. She'll be in major need of girlfriend's given the Mariah fallout. And Alison needs someone to help her into her spot as Andy's girlfriend. Claire might have made her over but she's still a skitzo. And Andrew would be forever grateful-"

"You're forgetting one thing darling."

"What?"

"Bender."

"So what? What about him? You just have to pretend you're not going to strangle him till you get allt he dirt. Can you imagine how livid he'd be if you sold their story to the highest bidder? Revenge for whatever imagined slight you feel towards him."

"I thought he was your friend?"

"Friends is a strong word. We get fucked up together sometimes, that's the majority of it. And it wouldn't his rep any worse than him actually becoming a member of the Breakfast Club in the first place. I'm a journalist at heart Soph. I know a hot story when I see one."

"You're crazy."

"Like a fox."

Sophie sat there. She turned to look at Veronica, who was lording her authority over a frightened freshman. She, out of anyone, wanted the inside scoop on the Breakfast Club. She was worried by their anarchy, their going against the Shermer High grain. She would give anything to hear how that group had come together, to know what their plans were, to infiltrate the group through an inside source. She could lord something over her, give her a taste of her own medicine, make her beg to run it in the paper. She relished the thought.

"This is going to be a lot harder than you're making it out to be Mariah."

"Oh, but it'll just be so much fun!"

* * *

"You're going where?"

Brian coughed loudly as he took a hit of bender's joint. They sat at the foot of a hill, behind Larson Park, across the street from Brian's house. Bender was asking him a question, but Brian couldn't stop coughing.

"To Sophie Bishop's house. She invited me tonight"

Sophie Bishop, the new girl. The thought made Brian smile. She was so pretty, so nice and he had her number tucked protectively in his pocket.

Bender gave him a look, one eyebrow raised. Sophie may have been a righteous bitch, but she wasn't all that hard on the eyes. She had a nice ass too, one that he'd been apt to notice at least three times that day. That thought upset him. If there was anything he couldn't stand, it was a mouthy broad. She was a little smart ass. She'd stood her ground and that didn't happen much when it came to Bender.

"How the hell did that happen Bri? I mean, no offence, but you're wearing navy blue loafers today my man."

Brian blushed.

"She needs help with her Trig. She asked me if I could come over at six because her parents are out."

"She wants to _study?" _He nearly burst out laughing "Don't be an idiot Brian."

Brian took another hit and shook his head.

"She wants it man. I can tell. And you're the one who said I needed to branch out, to grow some balls. Give me a ltitle encouragement here, asshole."

Bender laughed. This strange bond he'd formed with Brian was something he's never anticipated. Now, where he had once been a little shrimp that Bender and his friends would have used as a punching bag, he was a friends. Brian nodded downt he street, towards Bender's house.

"You going home tonight?"

He looked worried, John shrugged.

"Claire said I could stay again. I'd rather not deal with the Old Man's bullshit tonight. But I don't know."

"What do you mean? You're going to pass up a sleep over with Claire? Are you okay?"

"Shut up Romeo." He chuckled "I'm hungry."

"My mom's not in for another hour. Want to go raid the fridge before I leave?"

Bender's stomach grumbled just as Brian asked.

"You bet your sweet as I do Zoom-Dweebie."

"For the last time, quit calling me that."

"Fat chance."

"Come on. You jerk."

They were friends. As Brian headed back to his kitchen he wondered at how the world had changed so drastically in the past week. How the world seemed to have opened up to him. Anything was possible now, at least that's how it felt. He grinned as he and bender leaned into the fridge. It could have been the pot that put the big, goofy smile on his face, but he had an idea it had to do with the way his life was shaping up lately. Things were looking up. Hopefully this thing with Sophie panned out, and he didn't make a fool out of himself. Bender, and everyone else, probably thought she was way out of his league. But there was something in her eyes that made him hopeful. Sophie Bishop was the girl for him, he could feel it.

Although, he had thought the very same thing about a certain red head girl, only a few weeks ago. He gave Bender a quick look and pushed the thought out of his head. That was never going to happen now. This was what was best for everybody.

He looked up at the clock. Five fifteen, forty five minutes to glory. He tore into his snack cake with gusto. Bender snickered beside him. He started talking in his patented "Brian's Father" voice.

"Got some cream on your chin sport. Wouldn't want to show up at your sweetheart's house looking like a friggin doofus, now do we?"

He wiped his face as their laughter filled the kitchen in the fading evening sunlight.


	7. Chapter 7

"That's it. I'm done."

Sophie threw her pencil into the air, frustration creeping into her voice. Brain startled as she did it and watched her fall back into the plush couch cushions. She closed her eyes and ran a hand through her hair. He sat there, his own pencil poised over question twenty nine. They only had a few more to go. He looked up at the clock and saw it was nearly eight. Time had flown by as he'd sat next to Sophie in her living room. She smelled so good, and when she leaned over her work, sometimes he'd catch a little glance of her cleavage. He'd had a few uncomfortable moments, but he'd simply moved to the floor, letting the wooden coffee table hide his shame.

"Come on, you've been doing so well!"

She shot him a look and let out a twinkling laugh. In his short time with Sophie he'd learned she was a bit of a spitfire. She never hesitated to speak her mind, and tended to use sarcasm a bit more than he was used to. She had a sharp edge, but the soft curve of her smile made him shiver a little. She was a nice girl, but she was still the new girl. She was still a million miles away from New York and had been dropped in the middle of Shermer Illinois without so much as a cosmic "I'm sorry." At least that's ow she put it. Brian had never met anyone from New York but his father had gone there on business a few times and he said New Yorkers were pushy and rude. Sophie wasn't rude, but she could be sort of pushy.

"Grab the remote for me Brian." She tucked her legs underneath her "We're going to watch some St. Elsewhere. Hope you don't mind."

He passed her the remote and looked back down at her homework. It was mostly done, only a few problems left. She'd get a decent grade, he hoped. He turned as she flipped the tv on and then back to her. It was dark out now, and only a few lights in the living room illuminated their little study date. She patted the couch next to her and smiled. He got up off the floor and took a seat. There was nearly a whole cushion between them, but Brian couldn't bring himself to bridge the gap. Sophie had been really nice the whole night, she'd listened to what he had to say and had called him a genius a few times. But she'd asked him about himself too. About his friends and what he liked to do outside of school. Small talk, really, but small talk with a pretty girl was still pretty new to Brian. He'd been quiet and nervous and she hadn't seemed to care. Now she was stretching on the couch, getting comfortable as her show started.

"If you're hungry we can go check out the kitchen. My mom said something about potato salad and sandwiches but I never checked." She looked at the clock "They won't be home for at least two more hours with their fancy leftovers. I don't think I can hold out that long."

She stood, turning the volume down a little on the tv and then heading towards the kitchen. Brian wasn't sure whether he should follow or not. He could hear Bender laughing at him in his head, so he bolted upright, leaving the living room for the florescent light of the kitchen. She was leaning against the counter, on her tiptoes, reaching for a bowl on a high shelf. Taking a deep breath, he mustered up all of his courage and stepped behind her. He was so close to her as he reached up and grabbed the bowl. She looked up at him, a little surprised, and then smiled up at him.

"A brainiaic and a gentleman, huh? Grab the bread out of the cabinet, will ya?"

She turned and opened to fridge, pulling out a platter of lunchmeat and cheese and a bowl of yellow tinted potato salad. He turned, wondering which cabinet she was talking about. The Bishop's kitchen was huge and he could see everything hadn't been totally unpacked yet. As he rummaged through the cabinets he got more and more confused. At one point, he realized he was looking underneath the sink.

"No bread there." He said, blushing as he shut the cabinet a bit too loudly "I'm sorry. I'm useless."

Sophie rolled her eyes and brushed past him, grabbing a loaf from the cabinet right beside the fridge.

"Useless? Hardly. You've save my life Brian. I might be able to scrape up a C in this Trig class after all."

Brian took a bit of a sandwich she'd made him and laughed, looking at her from across the counter.

"Keep feeding me like this and I'll make sure you get an A."

She returned his laughter and leaned against the counter, elbows propping her up as she munched on the potato salad. Her face was so much closer now. He could see the red, gloss she wore and there was that maddening peek of cleavage again. He took a deep breath and turned his head towards the living room.

"You really like that St. Elsewhere stuff? My mom watches it."

"You're mom's got good taste then." Sophie sounded annoyed now and when Brian turned she was no longer leaning so close to him. She crossed her arms and leaned against the kitchen sink.

"I mean, I just never pegged you for the sappy tv drama type." He shrugged, wondering what her sudden change in mood signified "But then again…"

"Then again what?" she looked up from her feet.

"You are a girl." He took another bite and felt his face flush with color "I mean, girls like dramatic shows like that I mean my mom's a girl and…"

"Yeah, yeah, don't give yourself a stroke Brian." Her face softened, she looked at him for a moment and he wondered why she looked sad "Come on, grab your sandwich and we'll park it back on the couch. My sappy, girly show's still on."

She winked and left the kitchen, her own bowl of potato salad in tow. He walked out with her. toothpaste commercial was playing as they sat down and settled in. A young couple was kissing, because their breath was just so fresh. Brain found he was a bit uncomfortable again. What would it be like to just lean over and kiss Sophie? Would she slap him, would she kiss him back? Would she-

"Brian?"

Her voice was quiet, and when he turned to face her he wondered if _she_ was going to kiss _him_. But she didn't. She sighed and closed her eyes, a small smile forming.

"Yeah."

His voice cracked and she pretended not to notice. One of her hands reached for his and she gave it a slight squeeze.

"I really appreciate you helping me. I know its easy for you, but I've never had problems with school before, and I'd have never had the guts to ask for help. You really are helping me out a lot. I owe you."

He gulped and looked straight forward, towards the tv. He couldn't bring himself to squeeze her hand back. His hand was so damn clammy…

"Nah, you don't owe me."

She was quiet for a moment, but then she let go of his hand and leaned back into the couch, chuckling a little.

"Yeah, see if you say that after a few more of these tutoring sessions. I'm telling you Bri, this shit fries my poor little brain."

So he'd be here again? She planned on doing this again? She'd even said a few! That meant three! Didn't that mean three? He felt his heart start to hammer in his heart.

_I owe you._

Those three words thrilled him, made his blood sing. She felt like she owed him. She felt like she should repay him. That opened up a whole lot of doors. A lot of people would ask for money, of course. He'd gotten paid for tutoring sessions before, it was nothing new, but he didn't want money. He wanted more time with Sophie, so in fact tutoring her was a reward in and of itself.

Of course, he could always think of something later, something he wanted. As she settled into her spot on the couch next to him his mind started to wander. At one point he had to cover his lap with a pillow. When he finally left, the chilly air took care of his embarrassing little problem, but the whole walk home the images of Sophie in his arms kept him warm enough.

* * *

Alison Reynolds stared up at Andrew Clarke's ceiling and couldn't help but smile. Andy stood at his closet, clad in a pair of sweatpants and nothing else. His parents were downstairs, but they had no idea their sons new girlfriends had shimmied up the lattice to his second story room. She was fully dressed herself, but she'd tumbled into his window just as he had come out of a hot shower and he'd quickly pulled a pair of grey cotton stretch pants over her naked figure. But not before she'd gotten an appreciative glance at his butt. Now, he was pulling a long sleeved cotton shirt over his chiseled chest. As a wrestler he was in great shape, and Allison had found herself unable to stop daydreaming about his body.

He looked preoccupied as he made his way over to his bed. Alison was laying atop his covers, staring up at the white stucco and trying to figure out what she wanted to say. Today, she'd met a girl who had called Andrew her boyfriend. Most of the school had been gossiping about them since Monday, but she'd yet to hear anyone call them a couple. They mostly said she'd bewitched him into loving her or that he'd gotten her pregnant or he'd lost a bet. Alison didn't know what Andrew thought, but she decided she was going to find out.

"I swear." Andrew said angrily, breaking her train of thought "I could kill Kenny. He cornered me in the locker room today, him and a bunch of the guys. They all said it was time for an intervention. Said I must be hopped up on dope. "

Alison sat up, looking concerned. Ever since they'd come back to school after detention, Andrew had faced some of the worst scrutiny. Bender's friends gave him some flack about his new friends but Bender had made it perfectly clear that he didn't give a shit and he was going to do what he wanted. Andrew's friends were all in awe of his new found glory, if not a little jealous, and Alison didn't have any friends to begin with. Claire and Andy, however, had much more to lose.

But Claire's predictions had been so wrong. She and Andrew hadn't buckled under pressure. They had kept their word and despite the uproar it had caused, the Breakfast Club had remained intact. Alison had been surprised that Andrew, the reigning king of Shermer High's popular crowd, had actually chosen her. Veronica was livid, of course, but Andy didn't care. He didn't care if his former friends shunned him or not. He told her he cared about her, and he cared about their friends and he wanted something different. The rest of his Senior year wouldn't be the shallow, vapid, time-wasting mess it had been. He was going to be his own person, no more buckling to pressures from the outside world. He had learned so much from that time in the library, he was changing before his own eyes.

He told Alison she had a lot to do with it.

"You know." She said softly "Your friends would all lay off you if I just got out of the picture Andy. I'd understand, you know, you've known some of these people for years."

He perched on the edge of the bed, staring down at her, his face tense and his eyes wide.

"Really? This whole week, I've been standing up for us and you're willing to just let it go? Poof! Just like that!"

He almost sounded angry. Alison just couldn't understand. Never before had a boy cared so much about her. Never before had another human being cared so much about her. She bet twenty bucks her parents didn't even know she'd snuck out of the house. She hadn't even had to sneak really; she'd just walked out the front door. No one had so much as called after her. Andrew, bending down over her, cared enough to be upset that she'd want to leave. In that moment, he heart swelled up. She put her arms around his neck, and stared into his blue eyes. He looked almost frightened, like a little boy. Alison smiled, shaking her head.

"No. If you'd have agreed I'd have cut your balls off."

He let out an exasperated breath, and started to scold her, but stopped himself. He was used to testing him like that. He had no idea she'd been half way serious. He leaned down, pressing her to the bed as he kissed her. She ran her hands through his hair and snuggled up next to him, content to just be near him. In a few hours she'd have to shimmy back down the side of the house and go back home. She'd go back home to the silence and the disdain, as always. But now, now she knew she had someone in her corner; someone who cared.

For Alison Reynolds, that was more than she could have ever dreamt of.


End file.
